Reasons to purchase gold:
1. Falling U S Dollar. As the dollar falls, so does your purchasing power.
Let's do the math:
Example 1- if a widget costs 1.0 dollar today, as the dollar loses value, that same widget will cost 1.5 dollars tomorrow.
Example 2- 1968 Car, MSRP Price: $2,500.
In the year 1968 the average price of gold was about $40.
So it would cost me or you 62.5 ounces of gold, ($2500 divided by $40), to buy a brand new Car in 1968.
Fast forward to 2009...whew.
Take that same $2,500. Will it buy you a brand new Car?
No. But that same 62.5 ounces of gold will buy me or you 2 brand new 2009 Cars
at $30,000 each (62.5 multiplied by $1000 = $62,500).
WoW.

2. Debt.Debt to the Penny:
01/03/1994 Debt Held by the:
Total Public Debt Outstanding 4,512,315,337,989.71
09/24/2009 Debt Held by the:
Public 7,460,692,650,285.88
Intragovernmental Holdings 4,309,987,165,520.25
Total Public Debt Outstanding 11,770,679,815,806.13

10/28/2010 Debt Held by the:
Public 9,059,100,952,646.52
Intragovernmental Holdings 4,599,711,504,742.99
Total Public Debt Outstanding 13,658,812,457,389.51

01/01/2011 Debt Held by the:
Public 9,327,743,778,364.03
Intragovernmental Holdings 4,543,386,575,453.37
Total Public Debt Outstanding 13,871,130,353,817.40

According to the U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$3.97 billion per day since September 28, 2007
Looking at the chart we can see that for each
one trillion dollars added to the debt,
the gold price will increase by 100 dollars.

Purchasing Power Parity:Big Mac Index is using the Big Mac as a currency.Wikipedia Big Mac Index
In 1968 the average price to buy one ounce of gold was $34.00 in U.S. dollars.
In 1968 the average price to buy a McDonalds hamburger was $0.20 in U.S. dollars.
One ounce of gold could afford you 170 McDonalds hamburgers.
Today, 2009, one ounce of gold costs $1000.00.
Today, 2009, one McDonalds hamburger costs $1.00.
So, today, 2009, one ounce of gold will afford you 1000 McDonalds hamburgers.

Value of a Dollar: Prices and Incomes in the United States 1860-2009, Scott Derks

And when they were coming into the house,
they saw the young child with Mary his Mother,
and fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures,
they presented unto Him gifts;
gold, and frankincense
and myrrh.
Matthew 2:11